A member of the Bahrain royal family is facing a lawsuit for failing to pay a middleman $27 million, who used to arrange meetings between the royal and several Bollywood stars. Finally something a rich man can’t pay for.
We’ve all had a crush or infatuation gone too far where we risk coming off as loony in our social circles, only it might not have cost us a dime. A Bahrain royal managed to do just that though.
An Egyptian man Ahmed Adel Abdallah Ahmed approached the London Court against Sheikh Hamad Isa Ali al-Khalifa of Bahrain for failing to pay an amount he agreed to, so that al-Khalifa could meet the stars of his dreams.
Ahmed claims that the Sheikh agreed to pay $ 1.5 million for each meeting as well as an additional five hundred thousand dollars for a third meeting. Don’t know if this means that they skipped a second meeting though.
The Case
Sheikh Hamad Isa Ali al-Khalifa, who is the cousin of the King of Bahrain, and nephew of the deputy Prime Minister, refuted the claims saying he wouldn’t pay more than 30 to 50 thousand dollars for a meeting, and the said meeting never happened. Even though rumor has it that two of the stars with whom meetings were arranged were Ashwariya Rai and Anil Kapoor.
Aiswarya Rai (top) and Anil Kapoor (bottom)
Ahmed now wants the Sheikh to pay damages amounting to 20.9 million dollars for breach of contract. While the Sheikh feels disappointed at the ‘betrayal of his friend’, he didn’t specify whether that was regarding the money issues or the fact someone he called a friend just told the world who he has a crush on.
In Court though the Sheikh said he paid the amount agreed on for each meeting. So did he meet the stars of his choice or didn’t he? In fact the Shiekh allegedly admitted to have paid $1.5 million for a 15 minute meeting.
Well if its’ Ashwariya, Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan and Ranveer Singh in the mix, makes sense why he would put his 30-50 thousand threshold on hold. On the other hand, paying for those executive meet-and-greets while actors promote their films includes the same deal for a lot less money.
Ahmed claims that the Sheikh even paid 650 thousand dollars and 600 thousand pounds for a meeting with King Khan. And not just that, Ahmed even submitted a picture of the money in the suitcase it was delivered to the Court. Bragging much? His lawyers say they even have pictures of the Sheikh with his favorite celebs.
The Sheikh’s lawyers argue that this lawsuit is an attempt to exploit the vulnerability of the defendant. Man, we all have celebrity crushes but this incident just takes the cake. It just takes infatuation to a whole new level. .
Ahmed states that booking presidential suites and entire hotel floors was where most the money went. When the Sheikh realized how much money it was costing him for his seven minutes in heaven he tried to back out.
The case is ongoing in the British Court. Hope we all learnt a lesson here.
via The Guardian
